Transylvania has the largest wolf population in Europe. In fact the total population here is greater than all the wild wolves of western Europe put together.
I am often asked how easy is it to see wolves. The simple truth is that sightings are rare and difficult as wolves are very aware of our presence and shy away when they pick up human scent. Man is the wolves main predator and their experience is to regard all humans as a threat. I have discussed this subject with Transylvanian transhumance shepherds and they tell me that the wolf is always aware of you before you are of them. Often all you get to see are their tracks, the leftovers of a kill, or maybe some fur on a tree where they have been scratching themselves. This all adds to the mystery of the wolf, and why a rare sighting becomes extra special. Most villagers have never seen a wolf and the few recorded sightings are usually from rangers, shepherds or hunters. According to the rangers the best chance of seeing a wolf is by closely following large flocks of sheep. The shepherds are resigned to the fact that they will lose the odd lamb and in some instances even an adult sheep. The dogs guarding the flock do their very best to guard their flock, but with four or five dogs guarding several hundred sheep, a wolf occasionally finds a target momentarily off the dogs radar. They are very intelligent animals and can be in and out of a flock within seconds. Once they have the prey in their mouth they can run with the sheep still very much alive. The shepherds tell me that the neck muscles on a wolf are immense, which helps them carry heavy prey running at speed. It also gives protection to vital blood vessels in the neck if they are attacked.
Wolves rarely venture into the villages unless it is very cold and food is scarce in the forest. There have been reported sightings as recent as last month. Even large guard dogs that are chained are occasionally attacked and taken for food. Although such events are rare, it just goes to show how strong the survival instinct is for the wolf and the willingness and audacity to gain vital food in what must be a considerably dangerous raid on the village.
This evidently leads me on to the question of human attacks. So I went on a mission to find as many wolf stories as possible from the villagers. I managed to obtain several stories of bear attacks, first hand by survivors, but not one account of a wolf attack. The rangers, the people that spend most of their lives in the forest could not recall one single story of a human wolf attack, not from this or any other region in Transylvania. So I think it is reasonable to conclude that wolves have a healthy respect for humans and keep their distance which may explain why they are so elusive and hard to see.
I found this large wolf track in forests surrounding the village of Ojdula. So how do we know that this track was made by a wolf? We first you need to consider what other animals are out there which could produce an impression of approximately eleven centimetres in length. This narrows the number of possibilities dramatically as even a large domestic dog would struggle to produce a track of that length. Then the overall symmetry of a wolf print tends to be longer and narrower compared to that of a dogs. So the only other animal in our forest capable of producing a track of that size is a bear, and there is no difficulty distinguishing between bear and wolf tracks as the wolf has four toes and the bear five.
I found this wonderful video clip filmed by the BBC which will give you some insight into the subject of wolves in Transylvania and their often close proximity to humans.
I am often asked how easy is it to see wolves. The simple truth is that sightings are rare and difficult as wolves are very aware of our presence and shy away when they pick up human scent. Man is the wolves main predator and their experience is to regard all humans as a threat. I have discussed this subject with Transylvanian transhumance shepherds and they tell me that the wolf is always aware of you before you are of them. Often all you get to see are their tracks, the leftovers of a kill, or maybe some fur on a tree where they have been scratching themselves. This all adds to the mystery of the wolf, and why a rare sighting becomes extra special. Most villagers have never seen a wolf and the few recorded sightings are usually from rangers, shepherds or hunters. According to the rangers the best chance of seeing a wolf is by closely following large flocks of sheep. The shepherds are resigned to the fact that they will lose the odd lamb and in some instances even an adult sheep. The dogs guarding the flock do their very best to guard their flock, but with four or five dogs guarding several hundred sheep, a wolf occasionally finds a target momentarily off the dogs radar. They are very intelligent animals and can be in and out of a flock within seconds. Once they have the prey in their mouth they can run with the sheep still very much alive. The shepherds tell me that the neck muscles on a wolf are immense, which helps them carry heavy prey running at speed. It also gives protection to vital blood vessels in the neck if they are attacked.
Wolves rarely venture into the villages unless it is very cold and food is scarce in the forest. There have been reported sightings as recent as last month. Even large guard dogs that are chained are occasionally attacked and taken for food. Although such events are rare, it just goes to show how strong the survival instinct is for the wolf and the willingness and audacity to gain vital food in what must be a considerably dangerous raid on the village.
This evidently leads me on to the question of human attacks. So I went on a mission to find as many wolf stories as possible from the villagers. I managed to obtain several stories of bear attacks, first hand by survivors, but not one account of a wolf attack. The rangers, the people that spend most of their lives in the forest could not recall one single story of a human wolf attack, not from this or any other region in Transylvania. So I think it is reasonable to conclude that wolves have a healthy respect for humans and keep their distance which may explain why they are so elusive and hard to see.
I found this large wolf track in forests surrounding the village of Ojdula. So how do we know that this track was made by a wolf? We first you need to consider what other animals are out there which could produce an impression of approximately eleven centimetres in length. This narrows the number of possibilities dramatically as even a large domestic dog would struggle to produce a track of that length. Then the overall symmetry of a wolf print tends to be longer and narrower compared to that of a dogs. So the only other animal in our forest capable of producing a track of that size is a bear, and there is no difficulty distinguishing between bear and wolf tracks as the wolf has four toes and the bear five.
I found this wonderful video clip filmed by the BBC which will give you some insight into the subject of wolves in Transylvania and their often close proximity to humans.
